Once at the log-in screen you should just have to enter your user name and password.

WordPress Dashboard

Step 2 – Once you log in you’ll get to the WordPress Dashboard. Your dashboard will look a little different than mine (since you aren’t an administrator of the site), but it will be very similar.

To make a new post all you have to do is click the “+ New” button at the very top left of the page. You can also click “Post” in the left control panel and then click “Add new.” There are also a number of other ways to get there. There is only one thing you need to pay attention to: You want to create a POST not a page. [I’ll explain the difference in class.]

Post creation window

Step 3 – Now it is time to create your post. It is pretty straight forward, but here are a few things to point out.

The add media button is what you click to add images to your story.

You click the “Save Draft” button when you are done working on your story (or throughout the process to make sure you don’t lose your work. [Right next to the “Save Draft” button is a “Preview” button. Click this if you want to see what your post would look like on the page.]

Make sure you add your story to the “350 Spring 2018” category, so we can easily find and sort content from this class.

Beyond that it works like any other text entry tool with a formatting toolbar across the top of the window. Play around with the formatting options to see what looks good.

Step 4 – After you are done writing your post, you have one more job to do. You must select an image for WordPress to use on the front page. The image you want on the front page is called the “Featured Image.”

And if you look at the right sidebar on the post creation window, you will see a box with the heading “Featured Image.” All you need to do is click the “Set feature image” link and pick the image you want to appear on the front page to represent your story. Remember to pick something that is visually striking to catch the viewer’s eye.

After you pick a featured image, click the “Save draft” button again. Then you are done.